This invention relates to delivery of telecommunications services and, more particularly, to sharing of information representing the geographic location of a mobile terminal by two networks serving the terminal in substantially the same geographic area.
A recent development in the field of wireless telecommunications is the capability of transmitting data through packet-switched networks. Perhaps the most well-known packet-switched network is the xe2x80x9cInternetxe2x80x9d world-wide computer network, which is also often referred to as the xe2x80x9cWorld-Wide Web.xe2x80x9d Another familiar packet switched network is a xe2x80x9cLocal Area Networkxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cLANxe2x80x9d which is used principally to interconnect personal and other computers within an office or other enterprise.
Packet-switched networks are typically characterized by the transmission ofdata in a string of separate xe2x80x9cpacketsxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cframes,xe2x80x9d each of which may be directed through different paths through the packet-switched network to the same ultimate destination. Upon receipt at the destination, the packets of information are assembled and used in the correct, original order, as if the entire string had arrived in that order, following the same physical path.
Due to the flexibility, capabilities and speed associated, network systems, standards and transmission protocols are being developed to transmit data and voice to a single wireless terminal. Such terminals include mobile telephones, personal computers (such as laptops) and the like through which a user may desire to send both voice and data communications. Perhaps the most common example of such activities is use of a mobile phone to make telephone calls and also to send and receive e-mail messages and access web pages on the Internet. Use of wireless terminals for this dual purpose is expected to increase as telephone, fax and data transmission services continue to converge. Eventually, it is expected that mobile telephones and personal computers will utilize wireless technology to allow both mobile telephone calls and access to packet-switched networks without the need for land line connections. Other applications will be apparent, as well, to one of ordinary skill in the art and may be developed in the future.
Existing wireless systems providing voice and SMS services utilize xe2x80x9ccircuit-switchedxe2x80x9d networks to direct their transmissions. As currently envisioned, wireless data transmission services will be delivered through a xe2x80x9cpacket-switchedxe2x80x9d network that is physically separate from wireless networks presently providing circuit voice, limited circuit data and limited Short Message Service (SMS) services. Circuit-switched systems differ fundamentally from packet-switched systems in that all information comprising the call or SMS follows the same fixed-sized path within the network and, therefore, cannot provide the same capacity and performance for transmission of data at acceptable costs. Consequently, physically separate packet-switched networks will be constructed to provide wireless data transmissions services, in addition to the existing and developing circuit-switched systems offering voice and SMS transmission services. A network protocol used by packet-switched and circuit-switched networks to communicate with each other is ANSI-41.
As envisioned, a mobile terminal will communicate with the packet-switched network in the transmission of data. When a telephone call, for example, is made requiring transmission of voice information, the mobile terminal will communicate with the circuit-switched network. Examples of circuit-switched networks in existence and under development are AMPS, TDMA, GMS, CDMA, and CDMA 2000. Examples of a number of available packet-switched networks providing wireless data transmission services include GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) data networks, also identified as GPRS-136, and EDGE (Enhanced Datarate Global Evolution) also identified as GPRS-136HS.
However, certain inefficiencies are inherent in using both circuit-switched and packet-switched systems to provide wireless voice and data transmission services. In particular, as currently envisioned, a mobile terminal relying on both networks for voice and data services will xe2x80x9ccamp onxe2x80x9d or remain in communication with the packet-switched network, such as GPRS-136, when in the idle state. While this approach tends to preserve resources of both systems by reducing the amount of air time and control messaging that would otherwise be required if the mobile terminal camped on the system transmitting telephone calls and SMS messages, doing so creates a delay (typically 3 to 5 seconds per call) in connecting or completing setup of incoming calls to the mobile terminal.
Because the mobile terminal will be camped on the network providing data transmission services at the time of an incoming telephone call or SMS message, the page message typically used to alert the mobile terminal to the call and request a response is directed through the data transmission network. This is considered preferable because information representing the location of the mobile terminal is also highly likely to be known by the data network on which the mobile terminal is c ampred. Such location information is used to route the page request to the packet switch currently servicing the mobile terminal. Although forwarding the page request through the data network avoids unnecessary use of transmission resources of the circuit-switched voice network that would otherwise be required to transmit a global page to all locations within the network or direct a page to an area in which the mobile terminal is not found, additional delay in both sending the page and receiving a response from the mobile terminal is occasioned. It will be apparent that, such delay undesirably consumes additional resources of the voice network while awaiting a response from the mobile terminal and reduces the grade of service to the calling party and the mobile terminal user as they await setup of the call.
These and other disadvantages are overcome by the method and apparatus of the present invention, which expedites the delivery of a call originating in a circuit-switched network to a mobile terminal camped on a packet-switched network. Information representing the location of the mobile terminal in the packet-switched network is provided to the circuit switched network. A call setup with the mobile terminal is initiated with reference to the previously received location information, frequently more expeditiously and using less resources.
In another aspect of the invention, call setup is initiated by the circuit-switched network with reference to the mobile terminal location information provided by the packet-switched network, independently of a page response of the mobile terminal.
In yet another aspect of the invention, information representing the location of the mobile terminal within the packet-switched network is mapped to the location of one or more transceiver locations in the circuit-switched network.
In still another aspect of the invention, call setup between the mobile terminal and the circuit-switched network is triggered with reference to one or more page requests tunneled through the packet-switched network to the mobile terminal.
In yet another aspect of the invention, information representing the location of a mobile terminal within the packet-switched network is periodically provided to the circuit-switched network.
In still another aspect of the invention, location-based telecommunication features or services are provided via a circuit-switched network with reference to information representing the location of the mobile terminal within a packet-switched network.
Other aspects and features of the present invention will become apparent to those ordinarily skilled in the art upon review of the following description of specific embodiments of the invention in conjunction with the accompanying figures.